About your first session

We encourage clients to use the first session as an initial opportunity to gauge whether you will be happy working with your therapist.  You are about to embark on a challenging and hopefully life-changing journey.  It goes without saying that you need to carefully chose who comes along with you.   

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The theme of your first session is different to the following sessions.  At the start you will be given an explanation of the ethical principles of counselling including confidentiality and all exceptions to confidentiality.  Also an explanation of our relevant data protection responsibilities will be given (in line with the latest GDPR legislation).  These are fully detailed in our Privacy Policy which will be explained and links provided for future reference.  

Should you find all this acceptable, we then ask you to sign our consent forms allowing the counselling process to begin and also for us to gather and process your personal data. 

 Once you have given us consent to gather your personal data, we will ask for some emergency contact details (GP, Next of Kin, Family etc.) and your agreement for us to contact them if we believe you are in urgent need of additional support.  Please note that this is rarely needed, but is purely in the interests of your safety and wellbeing. 

 

Generally the counselling process then starts by you being invited to share your reason for seeking counselling.  You will be given time and space to talk openly and freely.  We really understand that this can be a very challenging experience - often clients share things that have never been spoken of before.  You may not feel able to share everything at this stage and that is completely okay.  We will always work at your pace and we fully appreciate and respect your need to develop trust in your therapist.   

It may be of some comfort to know that any therapist you work with in our company will have experienced several years of their own personal therapy as part of their training. We have sat in your seat. 

We will offer as much (or as little) support, structure and guidance as you need. 

 

We will usually ask some background questions including :

• general details about your history

• your mental and physical health

• your family and relationship history

• information about your current life and earlier life situations and experiences

• your specific needs and goals for therapy.

 

And of course, we will answer any questions you may have.

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Finally, you are under absolutely no obligation to continue further at any stage of therapy should you change you mind.  If you decide to try a different therapist or therapy service we will offer our support in helping you find this.

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Your wellbeing is our primary concern.